KOTA KINABALU, Feb 21 — The ‘Jiwa Ibu’ application, developed by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Hanai, will help women gain access to various healthcare information including mental health issues.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh said the application was a collaborative effort between the University of Malaya, St George’s University London, University of Nottingham Malaysia and specialist doctors.
“For the first time today, they (NGO) obtained information from mothers here (Sepanggar) and the ministry will help compile data from various sources and subsequently launch the application,” she told the media after a meet-the-people programme here today.
Also present was Sepanggar MP Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman who is also Deputy Home Minister.
Yeoh said the application when ready would facilitate mothers in locating nearby health clinics as well as have instant access to health information to enable them to make decisions and seek help.
Yeoh said the programme was held today to introduce the ministry’s services and the agencies under its purview as well as to provide assistance to those in need especially the elderly and people with disabilities.
Earlier in her speech, Yeoh said last year, 496,518 individuals received assistance from the federal government through a RM1.765 billion allocation under the JKM socio-economic aid programme.
She said of the amount, RM164.153 million was allocated to the Sabah JKM which benefited 40,743 recipients.
“As at January 31 this year, 145,245 women or 43.83 per cent of the 331,365 women eligible had registered with i-Suri,” she said adding that Sabah has the fourth highest number with 17,330 members. — Bernama
